Monday, June 1, 2015

Blurring - Blurring

I tried to like this. I really did. I
mean, it's got Danny Lilker and Erik Burke! But
Blurring's self-titled debut is just not my cup of tea. I've
never really heard any of Burke's bands (I only know him by his
reputation.) and I'm not all that hot on Brutal Truth, so
they're just names. But I generally like grind so hey, let's do this. However. I'm pretty picky with my
grind. And I don't pick Blurring. It's all gnashing teeth and
rubber-room guitar motherfuckery. It's so intensely chaotic that
there's very little to actually grab on to. Hooks? Get outta town.
Melody? Pfft. Then again, it is grind.

Scott D'Agostino and Matt
Colbert (guitars, both ex-Kalibas) twist and squeeze all
sorts of ear-raping noise from their guitars. And for those hell bent
on energy and pure craziness, dig in. There's plenty of madness to go
around. Burke's percussion follows of course, adding some structure
to the din.

Lilker's basslines sound solid. When
you can hear them. You have to really try and pick out the rubbery
technicality rumbling away behind the walls of insanity scrambling
your brain. Mark Welden's vocals are feral
and sickening; more black metal than grind. More werewolf than
barking. They change the tone of the grind from anger to hatred, from
pissed off to vengeful. So there's that.

But by and large Blurring is one
long rocket-propelled grenade launcher of “fuck you” set to fully
automatic. Barely controlled chaos rides the knife edge of insanity
but never is there any real danger of falling to the right-minded
side. I'm not trying to say it's a bad album,
it's just not my type. Other than some respites during “Rape Van”
and “The Devil I Know” it's just a little too crazy. If you're
one of those individuals that can soak up and assimilate madness,
you'll get all you can handle. But if you like a little more core to
your grind, there's other bands out there to satiate your needs and
blur your mind.